Always start with a disclaimer. Because this
concerns a post on Neil's "Eternity Matters" titled "Once Lost always Lost?” this in no way diminishes my respect and admiration for my fellow
brother in Christ and the work he does. In fact, he would probably be the first
to warn me about skipping around in mine fields and snake pits. Of course in
this matter he doesn't lead by example.
I like things simple. The Bible doesn't always
seem to accommodate. The simplicity of the Gospel message is astounding, while the
depth of Scripture is unfathomable. I believe in a six-day creation for many
reasons, but primarily because the Bible says so. I believe Hebrews 6:4-6 for the same reason. I would like to
be able to get beyond its abrupt dismissal to looking at the qualifiers made
for the people in question.
1. "for those who
were once enlightened"
2. "have tasted
of the heavenly gift"
3."made partakers
of the Holy Ghost"
4." tasted the
good word of God"
5."and the power
of the world to come"
It also looks as though all of these qualifiers
are things to be sought out by any truly professing Christian and yet are the
demise of all hope when they are then rejected when one has fallen away. The
question for me is "am I there yet?" As in all election, there are
qualifiers to be in the running or to be elected, or we merely reduce this to a
state of random selection. "The Lord is not
slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. It would be contrary to the will of the
Lord to say he imposes limitations in the extension of the hope of redemption
by a simple selection process. This isn't a mere question of sin blocking our
way to the kingdom; Jesus removed that obstacle. Still, sin too is a process.
We're told that when it is full grown or fully manifested that it becomes
death. You don't fall away in a moment of doubt either. It's a process of
rejection when brought to completion that not only negates a return to
redemption but also the desire.
I don't understand this state. I've seen it.
People that have been passionate in their walk with the Lord fall away. This
doesn't undermine the security I have in the Lord. To put it in a Biblical perspective,
I don't wake up in the morning wondering if I'm still married. I know I am. I
cannot conceive that there is anything that could separate me from my wife.
Still prudence tells me that my marriage is something to be guarded, so does
Scripture, but I know that divorce can happen. Christ as the groom is
infallible, but His bride is not. Christ has done everything He can possibly
do. It's not His will that people perish or that people fall away. So is it His
will to pick and choose while willing that none should perish? [cognitive
dissonance, Stan?]The Father does indeed draw us to the Son. There is no other
way. But can enough light pass through a dirty window to light a room or does
He have to show us how to clean it. We have the Bible. We have access thru the
Spirit to the Son, and by the Son to the Father, and by the Father to the
Spirit, and thru the Spirit to the Son, and so it goes. The question is
"who partakes and how can you partake and is there a share in the
participation for you?"
"Moses suffered
to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and
said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept."
Mark 10:4-5 This verse scares
me. I have a healthy fear of the hardness of my own heart. Christ is the groom
and he asks that I should step into this role regarding my own marriage. The
only beauty that the church can possess is the beauty Christ gives it. The
beauty my wife possesses is from me. That in itself places me in a position of
responsibility I'm reluctant to accept. Her submission to the same Biblical
model places her in a position of responsibility she's reluctant [though maybe
not as reluctant as I with mine] to accept. Still this is God's will and plan
if our marriage is to survive and be glorifying to God. This is the narrow path
and many cannot abide in it. It breaks God's heart, it's not His will or plan,
and he still loves us, but the separation remains, not because He chose it to
be that way but because we did.
Am I married? Believe it, I do. Am I fear driven?
You bet! It's a healthy fear Jesus taught me.
Mathew 25:24-30
"Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew
thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering
where thou hast not strawed.: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in
the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto
him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put
my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine
own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which
hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall
have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkess: there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
